It is well known to use personal digital cameras, video cameras, etc. to capture images within the environment for storage and future viewing. Such image capture devices are generally carried by the user and are able to capture images substantially from the user's viewpoint, as required. However, the field of view of such devices is limited by the positions and standpoints available to the user, and in some cases it may be required to capture images which are not actually visible or accessible to the user. Further, in many cases, it is difficult for a camera user to capture an image of themselves without the assistance of another party. In addition, although personal cameras tend to combine photographic sensing with the capture of sensed images in a digital storage medium, and even though many of these cameras have removable storage cards, such cards generally need to be plugged into the camera to which they belong before they can be used to capture images.
Japanese patent application number JP10301196A describes a personal camera having a detachable remote control device which has an image display and a wireless link to receive and show viewfinder images within the camera field of view. However, the remote control is only suitable for use with the specific camera with which it is associated.
On the other hand, there are many different types of environmental and surveillance cameras in use, such as security cameras and the like, which are often mounted in relatively high positions giving them a wide field of view from a viewpoint which is generally inaccessible to a personal camera user. This type of camera does not generally combine sensing and storage and captured images tend to be stored remotely from the camera. Unfortunately, however, the images captured by such environmental cameras are not usually available to the general public and may only be accessed by the camera provider or their agent(s). Even if the images are available via a personal computer or the like, or even to the general public via the Internet, users still have to find the personal computer to which the environmental camera of interest is connected (assuming, of course that it is accessible to a member of the general public) or identify the URL of the website at which images captured by the environmental camera in question can be viewed, neither of which options are necessarily easy.
We have now devised an arrangement which seeks to overcome the problems outlined above.